


My friends and I, we've got a lot of problems.

by stevehairington



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Period-Typical Homophobia/Transphobia, SO MUCH FLUFF, just a bunch of cute kids, only a little sad, post S1, some violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-21 23:12:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 10,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8263966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stevehairington/pseuds/stevehairington
Summary: Jim Hopper was not a bad guy. Sure, he had made a lot of stupid decisions in his life and hurt a few people along the way, but that didn’t mean he was a bad person. He had saved Will Byers’ life. At the expense of another kid. But she didn’t really know anything better than that lab, he tried to tell himself. And she seemed pretty resourceful, with the mind control powers and all. Will was a scrawny little boy who liked Dungeons and Dragons and coloring, he needed the help. The girl didn’t. At least, that was what he would tell himself every time he would put eggos or leftovers into the food dropbox in the woods. 
***
aka things don't stay normal for too long in Hawkins





	1. Reality continues to ruin my life.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm gonna be real, the summary only touches on like 1/6 of what this is about i'm just bad at summarizing  
> (it was actually the start of a fic i scratched shh don't tell)
> 
>  
> 
> Julia

“Well none of this would’ve happened if you could roll higher than a nine, Dustin!” Lucas shouted.

 

“So it’s _my_ fault? I didn’t want to go into that stupid cave in the first place!” Dustin shot back.

 

“Who cares?! We all agreed to go in, and _you_ were the one that us all killed!”

 

“Uh no! I didn’t want to. You and Will voted and overruled me, remember?”  


“Same thing! Besides, we’re supposed to work together! Ask Will, he’ll agree with me” Lucas said, “Right, Will?”

 

The two boys stopped arguing and turned their heads to the couch where Will had been sitting, only to see he wasn’t there.

 

“Where’d he go?” Lucas asked.

 

“Maybe his Mom got him,” Dustin said with a shrug.

 

“No, it’s only 6:20. Mrs. Byers said she was gonna come at 8:00,” Lucas said.

 

“He probably got tired of us and went up with Mike,” Dustin said, and he started walking up the basement steps.

 

Lucas nodded and quickly followed his friend to Mike’s room.

 

\-----

 

Dustin walked into Mike’s room and saw him on his bed working on math homework.

 

“Hey. Is Will up here?” He asked.

 

“No. I thought he was downstairs with you and Lucas,” Mike said.

 

Dustin frowned, “Really? Are you sure he isn’t?”  


“Yeah, I’m sure,” Mike replied, “Is something wrong?”

 

Dustin shook his head, “Maybe he went home and didn’t tell us? I’m sure he’s fine.” 

  
“Well I can just go down and see if he’s there. Maybe he got sick or something,” Mike said. He pushed his homework to the side and got up.

 

As Dustin, Mike, and Lucas made their way back into the basement they heard loud coughing coming from the bathroom.

 

“See? I told you, he’s sick,” Mike said, even though neither of his friends had ever argued that Will wasn’t sick.

 

Lucas knocked on the bathroom door, “Will, you okay in there?”

 

No response. Will just kept coughing, and seemed to be getting worse. Lucas tried the knob but it was locked.

 

“Will, can you open the door?” Dustin asked.

 

Will still didn’t answer and Dustin, Mike, and Lucas were beginning to get worried. Mike got up and started running upstairs.

 

“Where are you going?” Lucas asked.

 

“Getting my Mom,” Mike said.

 

Three minutes later, Mrs. Wheeler was in the basement with a hair clip, picking open the bathroom door. Dustin and Lucas looked at each other in surprise because they knew Nancy could do this kind of stuff but _Mrs. Wheeler?_ The door swung open and Karen quickly walked in and knelt beside Will.

 

Will was on the ground, his hair stuck to his forehead from sweat. He was pale and a small line of dark black spit stood out very distinctly on his chin.

 

“Mike,” Karen said, “go upstairs and call Will’s Mom so she can pick him up, okay? The number’s in my calendar if you forgot it.”

 

Mike nodded and went upstairs.

 

“Okay, Will. Will, honey? Your mom is going to come pick you up and take you home. I’m sorry you’re so sick,” Karen said, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

  
Will started to have another coughing fit and Karen started to lift him up in case he was coughing because of his position. She quickly pulled back when she saw a greenish-black blob of some sort come out of Will’s mouth. When the thing started to move, Karen jumped to her feet as fast as she possibly could and turned to Dustin and Lucas in hopes of an explanation.


	2. Once you start asking questions, innocence is gone.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karen learns the truth about what happened in Hawkins, Joyce gets to take care of Will and she also receives a mysterious note

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are starting to happen now  
> . very slowly but they are happening

When Joyce Byers had received a phone call from a very frantic Mike Wheeler she rushed over to his house as quickly as she could, not bothering to call her boss to tell him that she would be getting in late to work. The twenty minute ride to the Wheelers’ house only took Joyce twelve when all was said and done and she hurried up to the front door so that she could see what was going on with her son.

 

She had been told to let herself in and to go down to the basement where Will would be waiting for her. When Joyce got downstairs, she saw her son lying on the sofa with his knees pulled up to his chest. He had a wastebasket beside him and a washcloth on his forehead.

 

“Joyce?” Karen said, turning away from Will, “thank God you’re here. Will seems to be doing a little better but he coughed something up that has me a little worried.”

 

“What do you mean? Is he okay?” Joyce asked.

 

Karen nodded, “I think so. I can show you what I’m talking about. It’s in a bowl in the bathroom just let me grab it, okay?”

 

Joyce nodded and went to kneel beside Will. The other three boys were sitting on the floor whispering. Joyce rubbed circles on Will’s back and watched as they quietly bickered about something. They would occasionally look towards Will, only to turn away quickly when they saw Joyce was looking back at them.

 

“Did something happen today?” Joyce asks. The boys fell silent and as they turned to face her, Karen walked into the room with a plastic yellow bowl.

 

“Michael, answer Mrs. Byers,” Karen said, Mike looked the other way, “if something happened you have to tell us, Mike. We won’t be upset with you.”

 

Lucas was the one to speak up, “it’s just that this isn’t the first time Will’s gotten sick like that,” he said timidly.

 

“What do you mean? How long have you boys been keeping this a secret?” Joyce asked. She tried to keep her voice steady so Lucas, Dustin, and Mike wouldn’t feel at fault for Will’s illness.

 

“We’ve only known about for a few weeks but he said it started when he got back,” Lucas said, “he told us not to tell because he didn’t want to scare you. I didn’t know he was this sick.”

 

Joyce nodded and turned her attention back to Karen who still had the bowl in her hands. She pointed to it and Karen passed it to her. Joyce looked at what was inside and found a small creature of some kind.

 

“This came out of Will?” Joyce asked reaching down to poke the thing but it quickly moved to the other side of the bowl. Karen mumbled a ‘yes’. Joyce put the bowl down on the basement carpet and put her head in her hands. She was sure she was done with the Upside Down now that Will was back. That things were back to normal and they would no longer have to worry about those sorts of things. Now, Joyce wasn’t so sure if Will had ever recovered from his time in the Upside Down.

 

“Boys,” Karen said, interrupting Joyce’s train of thought, “what else do you know about what’s been going on with Will lately?”

 

All three shot up and looked at each other and then turned to Joyce who shrugged and then nodded. She trusted Karen, for the most part, and she knew that two of Karen’s children were involved in all of the mess surrounding the Upside Down, Karen deserved more than anyone to know.

 

Dustin went first, “well when Will went missing he went to this place called the Upside Down which is basically another dimension...” he trailed off, not even know where to start when explaining that week’s events to his best friend’s mom. Karen just frowned.

 

Lucas tried next, “So first Will went missing and we snuck out to find him and instead when brought El ba-”

 

Karen quickly cut him off, “you boys snuck out? And who is El? And why did you bring them here? Michael, is that the girl I asked you about?”

 

It was Joyce who ended up explaining everything to Karen. It took close to two hours, with all of the questions. By the time the two women had finished talking Will had fallen asleep on the basement couch with his three best friends playing cards on the floor by his feet. Joyce carefully picked Will up and said a quiet goodbye to his friends who all waved back and said they hoped he felt better soon. She drove back to the house and laid Will down in her bed.

 

Joyce went into the kitchen to grab some water for Will to have once he woke up when she saw a note taped to the refrigerator door.

 

_Come by tomorrow- urgent._

  
_-Hopper_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had no idea if Hopper would sign the note to Joyce as Jim or Hopper like i could not decide for the life of me. I always think of him as Hopper but if he were in some form of a relationship with someone I would figure that they would call him by his first name ? such a dillemma


	3. The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joyce talks to Hopper and is given some surprising information from an unexpected source.

Joyce sat at the table in Hopper’s kitchen table with a cigarette in hand. It was 4:57 PM and she was waiting for him to return from some important police matter he had to attend to. She had left Will with Jonathan and Nancy, trusting that they were responsible enough to take care of him until she got back.

 

The van’s lights flashed in the window of the house and Joyce went outside to meet Hopper. He exited the car and another man got out of the passenger side as well.

 

“Who’s this?” Joyce asked, pointing to the man she did not recognize.

 

“My name is Dr. Singher. I work for Hawkins Lab,” he said, holding out his hand for Joyce to shake.

 

She didn’t. Instead she turned to Hopper, “I don’t understand. You’re talking to people from there?”

 

“Come inside and the three of us can talk. I’ll explain everything, Joyce. Okay?” Hopper said. Joyce wasn’t completely satisfied but she still followed Hopper and Dr. Singher back into Hopper’s house.

 

\-------

 

“I don’t understand why you would do that?” Joyce said. Her mind was reeling. Hopper had just told her that he had given up Eleven so that Will could saved. She was grateful to have her son back, of course, but knowing the things that had been done to get him left a sour taste in her mouth.

 

“To get Will. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t just leave him there,” Hopper said.

 

“So you sent her back to that lab?”

 

Dr. Singher spoke up, “she never got to the lab.”

 

“Excuse me?” Joyce asked.

 

“When Dr. Brenner went to get her, the creature came to the school. It caused a big distraction and the kids got away. She ended up disappearing. They told us that she killed it and, that when she did, she vanished.”

 

“I’ve heard that before. If she’s gone, then why does Hawkins Lab even care anymore?”

 

“We provided Chief Hopper with a dropbox in the woods to leave food for the girl in case she had survived that night,” Dr. Singher explained, “recently there have been multiple sightings by staff at the lab.”

 

Joyce turned to Hopper, “so she’s alive?”

 

He nodded, “a friend of Dr. Singher’s is going to bring her here tomorrow.”

 

“I don’t understand. Why aren’t you taking her back to the lab?” Joyce asked.

 

“Not everyone who works at Hawkins Lab agreed with Dr. Brenner,” Dr. Singher replied.

 

\--------

 

Joyce got back home at 8:52. Nancy and Jonathan were on the couch, going through old photographs that Jonathan had taken years ago. Joyce walked down the hall and peeked into Will’s room to see that he was asleep with his supercom in hand. She carefully took it out of his hand and set it on his bedside table.

 

As Joyce left the room she didn’t notice the small crackle of static coming from the walkie talkie on the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wasn't certain how i was going to bring Eleven back so i decided to have some people at hawkins lab not be total assholes because they couldn't all be as bad as dr. brenner. 
> 
> i'm not sure how much of a role the people Hopper worked with will have in the fic but if people like the concept i can write them in more


	4. I've been upside down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleven is back, the boys play Monopoly, Joyce is a little embarrassing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do u end a chapter 
> 
> i forgot
> 
> chapter title from All We Do - Oh Wonder

Hopper watched carefully as the girl, Eleven, quickly ate a third serving of eggo waffles and scrambled eggs. She looked about the same as she had in November last year, but she had grown a few inches and her hair had grown out some. She was also much thinner than she had been that day, so, when Eleven stuck her plate in Hopper’s face for fourths he had no problem giving them to her. 

“What do you like to do?” Hopper asked lamely. He wasn’t sure where to start with all this and really wished Joyce were able to help out. 

Eleven just shrugged. 

“We can… watch TV?” Hopper offered. Hopefully Eleven would like that idea because he didn’t have any others. 

She nodded and got up from her seat at the kitchen table and moved to the sofa. 

Hopper turned the TV on, flipped through the channels and ended up stopping on the baseball game on ESPN. 

“What’s that?” Eleven asked, pointing at the screen. 

“Oh, it’s a sport called baseball,” Hopper said, “you would know if you didn’t just hang out with those boys, Eleven.” 

“El,” she said. 

“El, right. Sorry.” 

\------

The two ended up sitting in silence for most of the game. El would ask Hopper what certain things were from time to time, and Hopper would do his best to explain what they meant. 

It wasn’t until a little while later that El asked the question Hopper had been trying to avoid all day, “where’s Mike?” 

“He’s at Will’s house.”

El’s eyes lit up, “Can I go?” 

“No, not yet. We have to tell your friends that you got home first. After that, you can see them all you want,” Hopper said. He tried not to notice when El pouted. 

\------

Will was still at staying home because he was sick. His mom didn’t feel comfortable sending him off when she didn’t even have a clear understanding of what was wrong with him. All the long days spent home alone left Will feeling stir crazy, so he decided to invite his friends over for the afternoon on Friday.

He and his friends were on the living room floor, playing a game of Monopoly. Lucas was in the lead, Will close behind because he had gotten houses on all three blue properties, and Mike and Dustin had formed an alliance because they were both losing so badly. 

Lucas landed on one of the railroads, “how much do I owe you Will?” 

“One hundred dollars,” Will said, shoving his hand in Lucas’ face, “thank-you.” 

Dustin quickly smacked Will’s hand away, “hey, I’ll buy two of your railroads for a hundred and fifty and I’ll throw in a get out jail free card.” 

Will shook his head, “No way! That deal sucks! Give me my money, Lucas.” 

“How about I throw in Mike’s Kentucky Avenue property with that?” Dustin asked.

“That’s mine! You can’t just give it away!” Mike said, grabbing the card so Dustin couldn’t take it. 

“Will wouldn’t want your dumb property anyway. You put a mortgage on it so it’s useless,” Lucas commented. 

“No it isn’t. I just need more money.” 

“Mike, you only have, what, two hundred dollars?,” Will said. 

Mike shook his head and lifted the game board a bit revealing three additional one hundred dollar bills. 

“Wait! That’s cheating!” Lucas exclaimed. 

“No. Dustin and I formed an alliance and put our money together because we knew this would happen!” 

“Uh, no. It’s cheating. You can’t hide money when you play Monopoly.” 

“Where does it say that, Lucas?” 

“I don’t know! I just know you don’t get to do it!” 

Dustin chimed in, “you’re just pissed you didn’t think of it first!” 

“I am not! Will don’t you think that’s unfair?” 

 

Will shrugged, “I’m tired of Monopoly.” 

The other three boys nodded and started to help clean up the game board. 

Joyce walked in carrying groceries.  
“Need help, Mom?” Will asked, getting up from the floor. 

Joyce shook her head, “I don’t but I need you and your friends to stay in the living room. We have some stuff to talk about.” 

\-------

Will sat on the couch with his friends, shaking his leg nervously. The last time his mom had one of these ‘talks’ with his friends it was about Troy and James. It was after the day in fifth grade when Troy chipped Will’s tooth. His mom had made all his friends talk about Troy and James and how they made fun of them. The next day at school Will didn’t even want to look his friends in the face he was so embarrassed. 

Joyce walked into the living room and sat on the coffee table. She had cigarette and Will knew that that meant his mother was stressed. 

“What’s going on?” he asked. Will wanted to get this stupid talk over with and get back to playing with his friends. 

“Right,” Joyce said, “I need you boys to just listen to me and ask me questions once I’m done talking, okay?” 

They all nodded. 

“Chief Hopper and some people who work at Hawkins National Lab found Eleven. She’s alive and she’s okay. There’s a lot of complicated things to work around because Eleven is still technically in custody of a person who works at the Lab and doesn’t want to help her. So right now she’s going to stay with Chief Hopper until all of the legal stuff is figured out. But I promise you boys that me, and Hopper, and those men are going to everything we can to make sure she gets to stay here, okay?” Joyce said. She looked around at the boys who all looked back with blank expressions. 

Dustin was the first to speak, “can we go see her and stuff?” 

“Soon, maybe even tomorrow. Hopper called earlier today and told me she asked about you all, so she’s excited to see you guys,” Joyce said with a smile. 

“Is her hair long now?” Lucas asked, “Does she still have Nancy’s dress?” 

“I haven’t gotten to see her yet.” 

“Where was she?” Dustin asked. 

“I honestly don’t know,” Joyce said. 

“What do you think she’ll say when she sees me?” Will asked. 

“Dude, she’s gonna be so excited!” Dustin exclaimed. 

“Yeah! It’s going to be so fun once you two finally meet and all five of us are friends!” Lucas said. 

“You good, Mike?” Dustin asked, “I figured you would be the most exited out of all of us.” 

“I am excited,” Mike said, but he didn’t sound that way. 

“He’s just worried that El might not want to be his girlfriend anymore,” Lucas teased. 

Mike smacked Lucas on the arm, “it isn’t that! What if she’s different from before and everything’s weird?” 

“I don’t think much has changed, Mike,” Joyce said. 

“You haven’t seen El. How you would be able to know that?” Mike asked. 

“Well, if El is your girlfriend you were the first person she asked Hopper about,” Joyce said. 

Lucas and Dustin burst into laughter and Will sunk into the couch. 

“She is not my girlfriend!” Mike said. 

Joyce threw her hands in the air in surrender, “Okay! Okay! Well, it’s almost time for me to take you three home so you should get ready to go. I’ll call your parents if we’re going to go see Eleven tomorrow.” 

Dustin, Mike, and Lucas started to get ready to go home and Will put on channel 16, which always ran cartoons. He walked his friends out and when he got back, Will saw the TV was on channel 4 news. He switched it back and sat on the couch with a bag of potato chips.


	5. Building castles out of dirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El is nervous about seeing her friends again and Hopper does his best to make her feel better. 
> 
> (This one is a bit shorter so I may put up another later)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from the song Queens by Misterwives (i've never even heard it lol)
> 
> i love the idea of Hopper being the one to take care of Eleven is s2, seeing him succeed (and fail) at being a parent would be really fun imo 
> 
> also is there a pov in this story who knows ? certainly not me

Eleven pulled awkwardly at Hopper’s shirt she was wearing. She still hadn’t gotten clothes of her own to wear but Hopper had told her that Joyce was going to buy her a few things to wear, and that once she was allowed to go out, she and Joyce would go to the mall and buys lot’s of new clothes. El thought that going to the mall with Joyce sounded nice. She really wanted her own clothes, especially today because her friends were coming over and she felt funny standing in Hopper’s giant t-shirt that went down to her knees. 

 

“Quit stressin’ kid,” Hopper said, “your friends don’t care about the damn shirt.” 

 

El nodded and patted her head, a way of asking ‘will they care about my hair?’ without really asking it. 

 

Hopper rolled his eyes, “not your hair either.” 

 

El still didn’t trust it. She wanted Nancy’s pink dress back and the long socks and Mike’s watch with all the buttons. The shirt and her hair with its funny length was strange. El wanted to go back to normal. 

 

“Please don’t get all freaked out. I can’t deal with that,” Hopper said. 

 

“I don’t like it,” El said.    
  


“What’s it?” Hopper asked. He was getting kind of tired of this. 

 

Eleven ran a hand through her hair and tugged at the shirt she was wearing. 

 

Hopper nodded and thought for a moment, trying to remember what he would do when Sarah said he had done a bad job tying her hair up.  _ Hair clips _ , he thought. He wasn’t sure what he could use because he didn’t own any bows or barrettes anymore. Hopper decided that a washer would be his best bet. 

 

“Okay. I’ll put your hair up,” Hopper said. 

 

El quickly backed away. 

 

“What do you not trust me at all? I’m a pro at this! I know more than Joyce does!” Hopper said. 

 

El walked back to him and let Hopper turn her around so her back was facing towards him. Hopper carefully threaded the washer through Eleven’s hair but it ended up making the hair stick out to the side. He pulled the washer out a bit too quickly and El winced. 

 

“Sorry,” Hopper said.

 

He tried again, this time leaving the washer part way down and twisting the hair going through it so it got tight. He brought it back up and threaded the hair through the washer a second time, so that the bottom of the washer was covered by El’s hair. This time her hair didn’t stick out as much. Hopper grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. He inspected his work carefully and was pretty impressed with himself for doing so well after so long, especially when he considered the materials he had to work with. 

 

“Pretty?” El asked. 

 

“See for yourself,” Hopper said, pointing in the direction of the bathroom. 

 

El walked in and looked at her hair. The shiny, metal, circle stood out in the rest of her brown hair and she could swear that it almost sparked. 

 

It was definitely pretty. 


	6. A friend indeed, come build me up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The squad is reunited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from the song Don't Wait by Mapei 
> 
> I just wanna say thank-you to all the people that have read this so far, it means a whole lot !

As soon as Joyce pulled up at Hopper’s house his front door swung open and he walked out. He walked up to the driver’s side window and Joyce rolled it down. 

“Did you get her clothes?” he asked. 

“Yeah, they’re in the trunk,” Joyce said. 

Dustin spoke up from the back seat, “can we go in and see her?” 

“Why don’t you boys give her a chance to change out of the shirt she has on now. I think she’d rather not be in my clothes when she sees you,” Hopper said as he walked over to the trunk of Joyce’s car and grabbed the shopping bag. 

\-------

The boys waited impatiently for Eleven, Joyce, and Hopper to walk back out of Hopper’s house. 

“What’s taking so long?” Dustin asked. 

“It’s been five minutes,” Will said, “I’m sure they’ll be out soon.”

“Well it feels like it’s been five hours! I’m sick of wait-” Dustin said, but he stopped talking when the front door started to open slowly. 

Eleven stood in the doorway with Joyce and Hopper behind her. She was wearing a purple dress and black shoes. Her hair had grown out and it had a funny piece of metal in it. The boys stood frozen, not knowing what to do or what to say. 

Hopper nudged El’s shoulder, “you wanted to see them. Go ahead, Joyce and I are here, it’s okay.” 

El took a few steps forward and whispered, “hi.” 

And that was all the boys needed to be snapped out of their trance. Dustin rushed at El and quickly pulled her into a hug. At first, her arms stayed limp at her sides but she soon hugged back. Lucas joined in and the two rambled about how much they had missed Eleven and how happy they were that she was back. Will stuck his hand out to El and she shook it, remembering how the man at the diner had taught her about handshakes almost a year ago. 

“Hi, Will,” she said. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Will said, “they talked about you all the time.” 

“We have so much to talk about! You won’t believe who has a crush on Will! And we have to teach you how to play Dungeons and Dragons! And Halloween!” Dustin said. 

El frowned, she had no clue what Dustin was talking about. She had also noticed that one of her friends had yet to say hello. 

“Mike?” she said. 

“Hey, El,” he said. 

“Are you okay?” she asked. Something was off. El couldn’t name it but she could definitely sense it. 

Mike shook his head, “Nothing’s wrong, I’m just surprised, I didn't think I would see you again.” 

El wasn’t sure she believed him but Mike hadn’t lied before. 

“I missed you,” she said. She saw Mike’s cheeks get red and El noticed her own felt hot. It made her wish that Joyce, and Hopper, and the rest of her friends would disappear. She remembered what Mike had done the day at the quarry when she was upset and went over to him, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing her eyes shut. She hoped that she was doing the right thing and when Mike started to relax a bit, El was almost certain she had. Will, Lucas, and Dustin ran over to join in on the hug and El knew that she had found the best friends anyone could. 

\------

It was much colder out and the sun had set a long time ago but the kids were still outside sitting in a circle and talking about everything that had happened in the months since Eleven had gone missing and Will had come back. Dustin had told El all about his favorite movies that had premiered and Lucas told her about the time when he won the city wide spelling bee. Mike talked about the science fair and Will told her about how he finally did a wheelie on his bike. El laughed out loud when Will told her that he fell as soon as his front wheel got off the ground. 

The boys asked her questions too, but she liked their stories better. They had a way of making her feel as if she had been with them the entire time. “Tell me another story about school,” El said.

“Okay,” Dustin said, pausing to think of one he had yet to share, “wait! I haven’t told you about Jennifer Hayes yet!” 

El beamed, she hadn’t heard any stories about any girls. Maybe Jennifer Hayes would be nice like her friends. “Tell me,” she said. 

“Well, she’s this really pretty girl that goes to our school. Basically all the boys like her, especially Troy,” Dustin started. 

“Mouthbreather?” El asked.

Dustin nodded, “Yeah. He’s the one. Anyways, she cried at Will’s funeral, and when he came back, she cried again. It got Troy so pissed. He couldn’t stand to think that Jennifer might have a thing for Will. And then a few weeks ago she told Will she has a crush on him so-” 

El cut him off, “a crush?” She didn’t know this word.

“Uh, yeah. It’s when you like someone and want to be more than friends with them,” Dustin said. El frowned, what Dustin said didn’t make much sense at all. What could come after being friends with someone? 

Lucas seemed to sense her confusion, “Dustin’s talking about when you want to go out with someone. Like Nancy and Jonathan do.” 

“Go out?” She didn’t get it.

“Yeah, you like do stuff together. Hold hands, kiss, uh I don’t know. Those kind of things. Things you do with people you like,” Mike said. He spoke so quickly El could barely understand what he said. 

El knew ‘holding hands’ but she didn’t know ‘kiss’. “What is ‘kiss’?” she asked. 

“It’s when your lips touch someone else’s. It’s romantic or something,” Lucas said. 

El remembered back to when she was in the cafeteria at Mike’s school and his lips had touched hers. That day she didn’t know the word to call it, the only thing she did know was the funny tingle she felt in her fingertips and the smile she saw on Mike’s face.


	7. Ain't never felt this way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The squad decides to hang out at Mike's and a bit of chaos ensues. 
> 
> Later, Hopper gets an urgent phone call. 
> 
> (Just going to say that this fic is going to have a few possible triggers in the next chapters, I'm going to tag them but I figured I would say that now for people that don't want any potentially triggering content)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from the song ILYSB by LANY 
> 
> enjoy 
> 
> the formatting is different idk if this is better or worse
> 
> (I feel like I change tenses every other paragraph it's so annoying)

They were in Mike’s basement, Eleven was lying on the couch with her feet in the air and the boys were playing Dungeons and Dragons. Will had invited El to play but she didn’t want to. She had played before found it much more fun to watch the boys.

It had been five weeks since El and her friends had been reunited. She had done a lot of things in those five weeks. She went to the mall with Joyce and Nancy, met Mike’s parents and baby Holly, she got to go to Will’s house and met his dog named Sammy. Hopper took her to a dentist who wore a coat like the people in the Lab but she turned out to be very nice. El also got to go to a movie with Lucas, Mike, Will, and Dustin. They all shared popcorn and El got orange soda which she didn’t like, at first, but after a while the weird bubbles on her tongue were good and she was leaving the theatre with a refill. One day, Hopper told her she would be able to go to school with her friends. She jumped out of her seat at the table and hugged him, that was the first time she had ever done that, and after a few moments she grabbed the phone and started to call her friends one by one to share the news.

“I’m happy,” El said abruptly. This was very true. She couldn’t remember a time she had ever felt this much joy, this much _good_. She found that she liked it quite a bit.  

The boys were too wrapped up in their campaign to acknowledge to Eleven’s comment, much to her dismay. She wanted them to be happy like her. She went over to the card table and took the game piece Will was holding from his hand, “I’m happy,” she said, repeating what she had just said, “are you?”.

Will laughed, “yeah, El. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“What about you?” she asked, pointing to the other three boys sitting at the table. They all nodded.

“Why do you think we aren’t happy?” Dustin asked.

“You didn’t say it back,” El said.

“El, you don’t always say what you feel. Sometimes you just show it,” Mike said, “like we all like to play D and D together and that makes us happy, but we don’t have to say it, we can just tell.”

Eleven was pretty sure she understood. Feelings have names, but you don’t use the names, at least not all of the time. It was all very confusing, if she had to be honest. “How do I show happy?” she asked, she didn’t have a D and D yet like Mike. 

“You have things that you like to do, right? Things that make you happy?” Mike said.

El nodded. There were lots of things. Bike rides, watching sports on TV with Hopper, playing Atari at Will’s, drawing, eating ice cream. She could go on forever.

“Well, I mean people can tell you’re happy when you do things you like. I don’t know how to explain it but I just know it’s true. I mean, I can tell you like going to the park because you smile the whole time we’re driving there,” Mike said. As soon as he finished his last sentence Lucas smirked and Mike’s cheeks turned red. El felt the same way she had at Hopper’s two weeks ago. 

She remembered the words she had learned that day. _Crush, go out,_ and _kiss_ . When she thought of _crush_ , she found her eyes finding Mike in the room and her chest getting tight. Thinking of _go out_ made El want to go to the movies with Mike. To go on bike rides with just him and go to school dances like they had promised. _Kiss_ was different. El didn’t know how she felt about _kiss_. She and Mike had kissed. It was nice but it also felt funny. It gave El the feeling that something was missing. Maybe, it was that after you kiss for the first time you’re meant to say something. She didn’t know.

El didn’t know a lot. But she did know that Mike Wheeler made her feel the butterflies in her stomach Nancy had described when she told her about crushes. She also knew that Mike made her very, very happy and that sometimes it was good to be a bit brave. So, El took three steps to the chair Mike was sitting in, put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him, just like he had kissed her nearly a year ago.

It was quick and once it was over, El found herself thinking that this kiss didn’t feel as funny. She decided that _kiss_ was good, and it could maybe be better, even. The other boys in the room didn’t give her much time to think about what had just happened because they were soon laughing and ‘ooohing’ in order to tease Mike.

“Quit it guys!” Mike said with his face in his hands.

“I’m so happy for you, Mike!” Lucas teased, “when’s the wedding?”

“Yeah? I’m invited right?” Will said.

“I call best man!” Dustin said.

Lucas scoffs, “you’d be the maid of honor!”

“What’s _maid of honor_?” El asked.

The boys stop bickering. “It’s a person at a wedding. The maid of honor is the most important person of all of the people that stand behind the bride,” Will says.

“Why?” El asked. She had heard of weddings but they didn’t make a lot of sense. 

“I don’t really know. My mom said the girl she had as her maid of honor was her best friend from college. It’s just tradition, I guess,” Will said.

El still doesn’t understand and she doesn’t know ‘tradition’, either, but she decides not to ask. There is one thing that’s bugging her, though, “Mike and I are getting married?”.

Mike was quick to respond to that question before Lucas and Dustin could. “No, El. They were just joking about that. Getting married is a thing adults do,” he said.

Before El had the chance to ask why it was only for grown-ups, Karen yelled down from the top of the stairs.

“Dinner is ready! Make sure you wash your hands before you sit down!”

Dustin darted up the stairs, Will and Lucas close behind. They all loved eating Mrs. Wheeler’s home cooked meals even more than the food they ate at home. El waited for Mike to go upstairs. She didn’t think it would be too nice to leave him alone in the basement.

He was acting weird. El was used to Mike telling her jokes, or teaching her about Star Wars, or telling her stories about school and summer camp and all the other fun things he did. Right now, he was standing by the card table and staring off into space. El noted that he started acting this way after she had kissed him. Maybe Mike didn’t think that is was nice like she had. She wasn’t sure why, but the thought that Mike wouldn’t want to kiss her made El want to pull her knees up close to her chest and disappear.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Mike snapped out of his daze and looked at El, “for what?”. He couldn’t think of a single thing she had done wrong all day.

“Kiss,” El said. She looked down at her feet and folded her arms in order to brace herself for the oncoming rejection.

“No!” Mike said, a bit too sharply and El jumped back.

“El, don’t be sorry. I, um, I liked it, when you kissed me,” Mike said, fumbling over his words.

El looked up at Mike, “you did?”

“Of course!” Mike said.

“Is this crush?” she asked. She was almost certain it was.

Mike blushed, “Um, yeah, I like you,” he said.

“Like crush?”

Mike grabbed El’s hand and nodded, “like a crush.”

El smiled and she was about to say ‘me too, I like you’, but Karen Wheeler is at the top of the stairs again calling the two for dinner and she’s lost her chance. Instead, she squeezes Mike’s hand with her own and hopes that he can understand what she means.

\------

It was 11:52 PM. Hopper was up watching poker on ESPN, the volume turned down because Eleven was asleep on the blow-up mattress only a few feet away. He got up to grab another can of beer when the phone began to ring.

He could hear Eleven shift in her bed as he tried to maneuver around his messy trailer. “Go back to sleep, El,” he said, in as soothing a tone he could manage this late at night.

Hopper picked up the phone, expecting it to be some dumb kids making a prank call. Before he could even open his mouth to speak, a very frantic Joyce Byers began to yell into his ear.

_“Hello?! Hopper? It’s Joyce. Are you there?!”_

“Joyce, it’s nearly midnight,” Hopper said, “what’s going on?”

_“It’s Will. I thought he was doing better! He had to go to the hospital. God, I don’t know what to do! Can you please come here?”_

Hopper was quickly flashed back to the first day his own daughter was in the hospital. The fear he had felt was insurmountable. The thought of having to experience that all on your own was something Hopper couldn’t even imagine. “Of course I can, Joyce,” he said.

He carefully picked Eleven up so that she didn’t wake as he carried her to the car. She didn’t wake up as he laid her down on the bench seat in the back. Hopper then started the car and began speeding towards the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't forget about Will. Don't you worry.


	8. No one can confidently say that he will be living tomorrow.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joyce and Hopper talk about Will's condition, which is rapidly worsening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy!

Hopper sat on one of the stiff chairs in the waiting room. He was across from Joyce, who was constantly checking the clock on the wall. Will had been taken into surgery close to two hours ago and there was still no news. If Eleven’s head weren’t resting on his shoulder, Hopper would have taken it upon himself to go in there and find out how Will was doing to give Joyce some piece of mind.

Joyce shook her head, “something’s wrong. They would’ve been here by now. I should’ve taken him here the day I found out he was sick,”.

Hopper sighed, he hated to see her blame herself for this. “It isn’t your fault, Joyce. You thought he was doing better and he was. How could you have known?” he said.

Joyce nodded and looked at the clock but Hopper knew she didn’t really believe him.

Eleven began to shift in her sleep and Hopper suspected it to be another nightmare, so he carefully slid his shoulder out from under her in order to wake her up. Once he was facing her, he could see that her nose had been bleeding. Hopper shook Eleven’s shoulder to wake her and she opened her eyes slowly, frowning in confusion when she realized she wasn’t in the trailer.

“Morning,” Hopper said.

El grumbled, she hated mornings, especially when Hopper was the one to wake her up.

“Sorry to wake you. It’s pretty late, I know, but Will is sick so we went to the hospital with Joyce-” Hopper said.

“Sick?” El asked, her voice still quiet from having just woken up.

“Yes. He’s with doctors who are going to make him better but El, I have a question for you,” Hopper said.

El turned her head to the side.

“Were you having a nightmare? You have blood on your nose,” Hopper said, as he pulled his shirt sleeve down to wipe El’s nose.

“No.”

“Do you know what happened then?”

“Something’s wrong. Will is sick?”

Hopper nodded, “yes, he is. What’s wrong?”

“Will? What happened?” El asked again.

“El, I need to kn-” Hopper started but Joyce cut him off.

“Wait,” she said, “El, honey, does Will have something to do with what’s wrong?”

“I think,” El said nervously. She hoped Will didn’t.

“Okay. Well I can tell you everything I know about Will and what’s been going on with him,” Joyce said, “but it’s not a lot.”

“Tell me.”

“He’s been getting sick since he got home. His friends were the first to find out and when he got sick at Mike’s house, Karen called and I came and found out that he had been getting sick. He was coughing up black slugs, or that’s what Will calls them, at least. He was doing much better, I think he started to recover when you came back, in fact, but tonight he just collapsed. The other boys said they think the slugs are from the Upside Down, but I don’t know. The doctors here think he has a bunch of crap in lungs that made it hard to breathe. That’s all I know,” Joyce said.

“They’re right,” El said.

“Who’s right?” Hopper asked.

“Lucas and Dustin and Mike. It’s the Upside Down. I’m sorry,” she said.

Hopper sank back into his seat and Joyce put her head into her hands. El stayed at the edge of the chair she was sitting on and waited patiently for Will to return.

\------

El discovered quickly that she hated hospitals. Will was wearing a gown that reminded her too much of what she wore in the Lab, lots of people had white coats on, the hospital even smelled like the Lab. She was glad Will was out of surgery. When he got wheeled into the recovery room, El almost tackled Will to give him a hug. Hopper grabbed her just in time and told her that Will had just been through a big ordeal and need some time to recover before he could have hugs. El decided to hold his hand instead.

When Will opened his eyes, El learned what anesthesia does to people.

“Mom? Mom? Can I have lunch?” Will said.

“Sure, I’ll get you something to eat,” Joyce said.

“Mom. I want a sandwich,” Will said. His voice was all slurred and El couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Joyce said with a chuckle.

Joyce walked out of Will’s room to talk to a nurse, leaving Will and Eleven alone. Will gave El a small smile and she gave him a quick hug, now that she knew Hopper wasn’t around to scold her for it.

“Your nose,” Will said, raising his arm a bit to gesture to Eleven’s nose.

She rubbed the back of her hand across it and saw blood. El took in a deep breath. The doctors didn’t help. Will wasn’t better and the Upside Down was still in him. She wanted to back away from him but it wouldn’t be right to leave a friend. Especially not like this.

Will gave her a puzzled look and he was about to speak when the power went out in the room. The monitor that had been hooked up to Will began to beep loudly. A voice on an intercom started to stay, “code blue, code blue,” over and over again. Will sat up quickly only to grab his chest with a shout. Eleven began to quickly back up towards the wall before tripping over Will’s IV and falling onto the floor.

Eleven pulled her knees to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. She heard the door to the room swing open and hit the wall.

“What’s happening?!” Joyce screamed.

“Ma’am you need to get out of the way. Everything’s okay, the power just went and the machine malfunctioned,” a voice said.

_“It’s not working, sir,” the man with the glasses said._

_“We know the machine works, it isn’t malfunctioning. It’s her,” an all too familiar voice said._

El dug her nails into her palms. “ _He can’t get you,_ ” she thought.

“Mom! Mom!!” Will yelled.

“What the hell?!” the same unfamiliar voice shouted.

“Help him!” Joyce said.

El heard metal crash by her side and jumped. Will screamed and she jumped again. This time, not from fear, but from pain.

She gripped onto her head in hopes that it would stop the pain. Will screamed again and Eleven’s pain doubled.

_“It can’t hurt you,” he spoke again._

Another scream. This time Eleven screamed, too.

And as suddenly as everything had started, the light flicked back on. Joyce stood by Will’s bed. The nurse was on the floor, a large and misshapen gash in her neck. Will’s stitches had torn and he was laying in his bed in tears. Eleven was on the floor, collapsed, with blood trailing out of her nose and down her chin and bruises on her face.

Joyce grabbed the phone and called Hopper at the police station.


	9. Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleven experiences her first day of school and Will is invited to a party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, the chapter title is a Princess Bride quote 
> 
> **there is a use of slurs in this chapter so if that's something that triggers you, skip this please! it won't be a regular thing in this fic and i'll put a note in if there's going to be something like this again in future chapters**

By the time Hopper had arrived at the hospital, doctors and security were filling the room and trying to make sense of what had happened.

“Who was in here?” a security guard asked.

“I- I have no idea,” Joyce stammered, “I didn’t see anything, it all happened so fast.”

One of the doctors put a hand on Joyce’s shoulder, “why don’t you take a seat?”

“I don’t think I can,” Joyce said, looking down at her shaking hands.

Another doctor was busy working on restitching Will’s incision, “Will, you didn’t pull at your stitches, did you?” he asked.

Will shook his head and turned to look at Eleven, who was being calmed down by a nurse. A second security guard was looking at the body of the nurse that had entered the room previously.

No one even noticed when Hopper walked in, “Jesus Christ! What happened?!”.

\-------

Days came and went like normal after the incident and soon, it was Monday, which was also Eleven’s first day of school. It wasn’t really school, the counselor, Ms. Ward had explained. El would only go until lunch and she would go to a class to help her get caught up with the other kids. It still sounded better than going to the police station or sitting alone in the trailer all day.

El wanted to bike to school, like her friends did everyday, but Hopper insisted on driving her for her first day. When they pulled up and she spotted Dustin, Mike, Lucas, and Will, El bolted out of the car without even saying goodbye.

“Hey, El!” Lucas said, taking a hand of his bike to give her a wave.

El waved back and stood between Mike and Dustin.

“You excited for your first day of school?” Will asked.

El nodded and pulled on the sleeve of Mike’s jacket, “can you take me to class?”

Mike blushed, but he wasn’t sure why because he and El both liked each other, “uh, yeah, sure.”

“Cool.”

A girl with a blonde ponytail and a blue dress approached the group, “hey, Will,” she said.

“Hi, Jennifer,” Will said.

“ _So this is Jennifer Hayes_ ,” El thought.

“I was wondering if you wanted to come to my Halloween party?” Jennifer asked.

“Um, sure. Sounds like fun,” Will replied. He didn’t go to many parties, especially not Jennifer Hayes parties.

“But, Will? Would you go as my, y’know date?” Jennifer asked, when there was a beat of silence she was quick to continue, “I mean, you don’t have to. It’s just that, you know that I like you and I was hoping maybe you liked me, too. If you don’t that’s cool.”

Will felt flustered, he didn’t expect someone like Jennifer to get nervous asking him out. “I’d like to, Jennifer,” he said. He was eternally grateful that none of his friends were teasing him. Or, at least they weren’t teasing him yet.

“Cool! You can bring your friends,” Jennifer said, she took a moment and looked at Eleven, “who is she?”

“This is El,” Will said, “she’s new.”

“Oh, hi, El,” Jennifer said with a small wave.

El waved back, “hi.”

“Your hair is really cool. My mom would kill me if I had it cut like that.”

El grinned, “your hair is pretty.”

“This?” Jennifer said, twirling a lock of hair around her finger, “I guess, but every girl has hair like mine.”

El shrugged, it was true, all the girls at Hawkins Middle had long hair that could go up into pretty ponytails. She still wanted to try to grow hers out, just to know what it would be like.

The school bell rang signaling the start of the school day and the six kids parted ways.

Mike took Eleven’s hand and started to take her to her classroom.

“Is school nice?” El asked. She hadn’t thought too much about the things that could go wrong until just now.

“Mostly,” Mike said, “except for all the mouthbreathers. And the homework.”

El knew about homework because Mike would do his when she came over. It didn’t look fun. “Will I have homework?”

“Yeah, but I can help you,” Mike said. They stopped walking and Mike let go of El’s hand.

“This is my class?” El asked, she could see the number 122 on the door.

“Mr. Perez is in here,” Mike said with a nod, “I’ll come get you when it’s time for lunch.”

“Thanks,” El whispered.

El looked at the classroom door and turned back to Mike, who gave her a reassuring nod, and then she walked in.

\-------

The very first thing El learned about school was that her teacher was very loud.

When she walked into class, Mr. Perez had nearly shouted, “welcome our new student, El!”

The next thing she learned was that, sometimes, you had to live _with_ the mouthbreathers. She had found herself seated right next to the boy whose arm she had broken at the quarry. He gave her a glare. When Mr. Perez told him to introduce himself he said, “I’m Troy. What’s your name, tranny?”. El had never heard _tranny_ and when she asked Troy what it meant, he just laughed in her face.

She learned two more things. The meaning of tranny and that Troy the Mouthbreather was like a human Demogorgon.

\-------

Mr. Perez was a nice teacher, mostly. The first thing he taught was math, which El knew some of. Mr. Perez would stand at the board, write out multiplication problems and call people up to the front to answer them.

El liked how he didn’t yell when people got the answer wrong. When El went up, she had to multiply 13 times -27. Mr. Perez gave her a high-five when she revealed the correct answer, -351.

Next was science. El and the rest of the kids at her table, Troy the Mouthbreather, Jake, and Abby, worked on a project about how temperature affects the Earth. They discovered that water got hotter at a much slower rate than land, something El was excited to share with her friends but the other kids didn’t care too much for it.

During history, Mr. Perez put on a documentary about the Revolutionary War. El thought it was nice, like a movie but different. He paused it when one of the history professors was going on about how amazing it was that George Washington managed to lead the US to victory and El found herself wanting to go up to the TV and press the play button to see what the man would say next.

English was the worst, by far. Mr. Perez had everyone take out a copy of Where the Red Fern Grows and he made everyone take turns reading paragraphs. Once it was El’s table’s turn to go, Jake went first. El realized she wasn’t sure what a paragraph was so she whispered to Abby to ask her.

“What’s a paragraph?”

“See the chunks of words on the page and how they have spaces in between?” Abby asked, pointing to one of them.

El nodded.

“Those are paragraphs.”

“Thank-you, Abby.”

Troy the Mouthbreather snickered and El shot him a glare. When Jake finished reading his paragraph, El cleared her throat and read her own without making even one mistake. Troy’s turn was next, but he just sat in his seat and didn’t start to read.

Mr. Perez cleared his throat, “Troy, it’s your turn to read.”

Troy grabbed his book and held it close to face. “I don’t know where came from,” Troy said, reading the paragraph slowly. It reminded El of how she read when she was first learning.

“I don’t know where they came from,” Mr. Perez said.

“Sorry.”

“That’s okay, Troy. Keep going.”

By the time Troy finished reading, the lunch bell had already rung. When Mr. Perez dismissed the class, Abby handed El a drawing she had made during the history documentary. El put it in her folder to keep it safe and made a mental note to invite Abby over some day.


	10. Reality is frequently inaccurate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El knows something about Will. They all agree to ditch school to figure it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a long time sorry
> 
> the title for the chapter makes no sense excuse me for that one

Mike was waiting outside of Mr. Perez’s door just like he had promised. He gave El a small smile and started leading her to the cafeteria. 

 

“How was class?” Mike asked. 

 

“It was nice. We watched a movie about American revolution and I made a new friend,” El said. 

 

“What’s your friend’s name?” Mike asked. 

 

“Her name is Abby. She’s sits at my table.” El said, she stopped and reached into her backpack to get the drawing, “she made this for me.” 

 

Mike examined the artwork, “this is really good!” 

 

El nodded, “Troy sits at my table, too.” 

 

“Did he do something?” Mike asked.

 

“He called me a tranny,” El said nonchalantly. 

 

Mike balled his hands into a fist. “I’m sorry, El. Troy is such an asshole, he only does it because of me.” 

 

“It’s not your fault.” 

 

The two arrived at the cafeteria and took a seat at the table where Lucas, Will, and Dustin were already waiting. El grabbed the brown paper bag lunch Hopper had packed for her and saw two eggos inside. Dustin laughed when she pulled one out and started scarfing it down. 

 

“So Mr. Clark told me there’s no AV club this week,” Lucas said. 

 

“How come?” Will asked. 

 

“I think he has a date,” Lucas said. 

 

“Mr. Clark? No way!” Dustin said, putting his chips down. 

 

“Uh, yeah! Don’t you remember that girl that kept coming into science class last year?” Lucas asked. 

 

“That’s Mr. Clark’s girlfriend?” Dustin asked. 

 

Lucas nodded, “that’s what I keep telling you.” 

 

El spoke up through a mouthful of waffles, “I don’t want to go home alone.” 

 

The table falls silent. 

 

“After Will got sick. I don’t want to leave you,” she said. 

 

Will reached across the table and put a hand on El’s shoulder, “I’ll be okay, and once school is over, I can come over to your house.” 

 

El shook her head, “Something’s wrong.” 

 

“What do you mean?” Lucas asked. 

 

El’s voice began to shake, “I don’t know how…” she trailed off. She wants to tell her friends what she knows, what she feels. She just doesn’t know how. She’s never had to tell people something like this before and it’s scary. 

 

“El. You can tell us,” Mike said, he’s using that nice, soft voice. The same one he used in the cafeteria before their first kiss. It makes El want to cry. 

 

“It’s bad, Mike,” she said. 

 

“How bad,” Will asked. 

 

El took in a deep breath. She really doesn’t want to tell Will this. “I think the demogorgon is in you,” she said, her voice barely audible. 

 

“But you killed it,” Mike said, “when you disappeared.” 

 

“It got Will, remember?” 

 

“You’re right, but the things in Will looked way different,” Lucas said. 

 

Dustin nodded in agreement, “yeah, there’s no way that there’s a demogorgon in Will.” 

 

“Then what is it?” Will asked. 

 

The three boys looked to El, who shook her head because she didn’t know, then they turned to Will and shrugged. 

 

“Maybe we should go with El,” Mike said. 

 

“Are you nuts?!” Lucas asked, “we have that English quiz! Mrs. Ackermann would kill us!” 

 

“Will is sick! We have to do something!” Mike said. 

 

“I second that,” Dustin said.   
“Of course you do. You just want to eat the ice cream at Hopper’s!” Lucas said. 

 

“That’s an added bonus.” 

 

“Look, we’ll go, but just for today,” Mike said, he stood up and grabbed his backpack so Lucas wouldn’t have another chance to protest. The rest of the group followed suit. 

 

“Maybe we should call Nancy and Jonathan. They could help us,” Dustin said. 

 

Mike nodded and he noticed all at once that El was holding his hand. “Are you okay?” 

 

She grabbed Mike’s other arm by the wrist and stopped him, “I’m scared. For Will,” she said. A weight felt as if it had been lifted off El’s chest. 

 

Mike wanted to wrap El in his arms and keep her there for as long as possible, but he was very aware of his friends who were all watching their exchange and would most likely tease him endlessly for it. Instead, he gave her a reassuring smile. “El, Will is going to be alright. No one is going to let anything bad happen to him, I promise.” 

 

“You promise?” El asked. 

 

And Mike suddenly realized how nice El looks in the light blue dress she had on. How the silver clip in her hair made her eyes look even prettier. Mike didn’t think that was possible. He pressed a soft kiss to El’s forehead and watched her eyelids flutter shut. His friends snickered but Mike decided to ignore it, “I promise.”


	11. If misery loves company, misery has company enough.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i dunno anymore but hey double update bc this was in my drafts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't for the life of me write in past tense also i just want to write garbage fluff but i already started this ugh. 
> 
> enjoy (the tense changes like 98 times i'm sorry )

“Let me get this straight,” Nancy said, “Will brought something dangerous back with him from the Upside Down? And El knows this because she has a connection with whatever this thing is?” Nancy placed a hand on Jonathan’s knee and Mike did his best to not puke all over the carpet of the Chief’s trailer. 

 

“With Will,” El said. 

 

“Right, that’s what I meant, a connection with Will.” 

Jonathan had been silent during the kids’ explanation but after a long pause he finally spoke, “what do we do? Can you get it out of him” 

 

El thought about it for a few minutes before shaking her head. That wouldn’t work.   
“We have to do something,” Nancy said, “Mike, you said he was here, with Lucas and Dustin, right?” 

 

Mike nodded. 

 

“Well, where’d they go?” 

 

“They just went out back. It’s it really that big a deal?” Mike responded. He rolled his eyes at his sister’s worried demeanor. He was worried about Will, too, but his friend had survived an entire week in the Upside Down, so spending a half hour outside with friends wouldn’t be a problem for Will Byers. 

 

Mike and El followed Nancy and Jonathan outside to find Will sitting in the grass watching Dustin and Lucas take turns trying to hit a truck of a tree with rocks. 

 

“See,” Mike said, “I told you he was fine.” 

 

Will turned to face the four of them, “who thought I wasn’t fine? I thought we decided I was okay for right now?” he asked. 

 

Nancy nearly gasped at the stark change on the boys face. Not even an hour ago, Will had seemed to be doing well and, suddenly, he looked the way she had the time she got the flu and missed nearly two weeks of school. 

 

“What’s wrong?” Will asked, obviously picking up on Nancy’s concern. 

 

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Nancy asked. 

 

Will nodded and he was about to say something when Nancy grabbed Jonathan by the arm and pulled him to the side. 

 

“I’m calling your Mom,” she said. 

 

Jonathan nodded, the last thing he needed was his little brother getting hurt when there was something he could’ve done to stop it. Again. 

 

\--------

 

Joyce and Hopper arrived at the trailer in less than 10 minutes, having cut the trip from town in half. Nancy and Jonathan were waiting out front to bring them over to Will, and so that they could give an explanation for why they had let themselves into Hopper’s house without asking permission. 

 

Joyce didn’t seem to care much about the fine details and walked right between Nancy and Jonathan over to Will, who was sitting on the couch. Hopper was close behind. 

 

“Jesus. I thought he was doing better,” Hopper said, looking closely at Will. 

 

“El told us that she thinks it’s the Upside Down,” Nancy said. 

 

“She doesn’t think that. She knows it,” Mike said, “right, El?” 

 

El nodded, “right. It’s the Upside Down.” 

 

“That man. The one I met, Dr. Singher? Could he help Will?” Joyce asked. 

 

“Joyce, we really shouldn’t talk about that,” Hopper said. He had finally gotten El to trust him and, as selfish as it may be, he didn’t want to give that up. Not after what he had done to her. 

 

“If he can get WIll better,” Joyce reasoned, “this could be put behind us. Just think about it?” 

 

“Who even is Dr. Singher?” Dustin asked, “and how does he know how to help Will?” 

 

“He’s just a friend of Hop’s,” Joyce said. 

 

“Okay, but no one knows about this stuff but us and…” Dustin trailed off, having realized who Dr. Singher was, “Dr. Singher works at the Lab? Doesn’t he?” 

 

Neither Joyce nor Hopper respond and Dustin knows that he’s right. 

 

“You told them where we were, didn’t you?” Lucas said. 

 

A mystery that had haunted the three boys for more than a year was beginning to be solved right in front of their eyes. 

 

This time Joyce takes a step away from Hopper. Hopper tries to ignore the fact that El is sinking into the couch like she wants to disappear. 

 

Lucas stands and begins to walk to the front door, “we’re leaving.” he says.

**Author's Note:**

> the end.   
> I'm going to try to update pretty regularly. Once I've got the first few chapters written I can *hopefully* have a set update schedule


End file.
